Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a surgical apparatus having a buttress material incorporated therewith. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a surgical stapling apparatus including a detachable surgical buttress and a resilient, porous material releasably disposable with the surgical buttress that acts to facilitate adherence of the surgical buttress to tissue facing surfaces of the surgical stapling apparatus.
Background of Related Art
Surgical devices for grasping or clamping tissue between opposing jaw structure and then joining tissue by surgical fasteners are well known in the art. In some instruments, a knife is provided to cut the tissue which has been joined by the fasteners. The fasteners are typically in the form of surgical staples but two-part polymeric fasteners can also be utilized.
Instruments for this purpose can include two elongated jaw members which are respectively used to capture or clamp tissue. In certain surgical staplers, one of the jaw members carries a staple cartridge which houses a plurality of staples arranged in at least two lateral rows while the other jaw member has an anvil that defines a surface for forming the staple legs as the staples are driven from the staple cartridge. The stapling operation is effected by cam members that travel longitudinally through the staple cartridge, with the cam members acting upon staple pushers to sequentially eject the staples from the staple cartridge.
Each of the instruments described above are designed for use in surgical procedures in which surgeons have direct manual access to the operative site. However, in minimally invasive procedures, such as, for example, endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures, surgery is performed through a small incision or through a narrow cannula inserted through small entrance wounds in the skin. In order to address the specific needs of minimally invasive surgical procedures, surgical stapling devices have been developed and are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,142 (Robinson, et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,139 (Milliman et al.), the entire contents of each of which are incorporated by reference herein. These instruments include a surgical stapling apparatus and a loading unit. Typically, the loading unit is attached to the apparatus immediately prior to surgery. After use, the loading unit can be removed from the apparatus and a new loading unit can be fastened to the apparatus to perform additional stapling and/or cutting operations. These instruments have provided significant clinical benefits. Nonetheless, improvements to these instruments are still desirable.
When stapling relatively thin or fragile tissues, it is important to effectively seal the staple line against air or fluid leakage. Additionally, it is often necessary to reinforce the staple line against the tissue to prevent tears in the tissue or pulling of the staples through the tissue. One method of preventing tears or pull through involves the placement of a biocompatible fabric reinforcing material, or “buttress” material, between the staple and the underlying tissue. In this method, a layer of buttress material is placed against the tissue and the tissue is stapled in conventional manner. In another method, the buttress material is positioned on the stapling instrument itself prior to stapling the tissue. An example of this is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,594 to McKean et al., the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference herein. In McKean et al., a tube of buttress material is slipped over the jaw of the stapler. The stapler is then actuated to staple the subject tissue and secure the buttress material between the tissue and staple line to reinforce the tissue and staple line.
Buttress materials which are either pre-loaded or are an after-market add-on, for minimally invasive or open mechanical surgical stapling apparatus, may shift in position relative to a stapler reload cartridge assembly and anvil assembly to which they are attached during grasping and manipulation of tissue by the surgical stapling apparatus. If the shifting of the buttress material is pronounced and is not corrected by the surgeon before firing the surgical stapling apparatus, then staples may form outside the perimeter or width of the buttress material thereby reducing the benefits of having the entire staple line reinforced by the buttress material.